This week we tackle the Druid class. And much to my chagrin, I’ve taken on the task of
trying to create a decent and fun deck using the basic deck with a few tweaks. Our listeners have suggested that I use Druid of the ClawKeeper of the Grove and Ancient of Lore to help boost my deck. Just looking at the basic deck, we can see that it has some synergy with Innervate and Wild Growth allowing us to put some big bodied minions out early. We can use this knowledge to help us with subtracting and adding cards, as I’ll show here…

The Mulligan (what cards to keep in your opening hand)
If you’re going first, you want to try to have an [Intervate] or Wild Growth and a Claw or and of your 2 mana cost Minions. Also keep in mind that the Druid’s Hero power is a 2 mana cost ability that gives you 1 armor and 1 attack. The shield stays on your hero until it absorbs enough damage to destroy it, but the attack goes away at the end of your turn. This power can be used much like the Rogue and allow you to use health as a resource for removing opposing minions. (yes, you can only attack enemy characters. you cannot attack your own minions to “Enrage” them. Like the Mage hero power and the Gurubashi Berserker

When going second (you now have the Coin ) you still want the same cards as when going first, but are safe if you get stuck with a 4 mana minion. Having a turn 1 Coin InnervateChillwind Yeti has been known to cause many tables to flip. Also playing Wild Growth on turn 2 and Keeper of the Grove on turn 3 is a very powerful play if your opponent has a 2 health minion that you can target with the Keeper of the Grove “Deal 2 damage” ability.

Also, be careful with Coin into Wild Growth on turn 1. If you don’t have a 3 mana minion to play on turn 2, you may end up essentially wasting that coin.

Playing this deck
Once you get your bigger minions out on the board (earlier than your opponent if you draw the correct cards) you can use them to trade efficiently and overwhelm them with your “big dudes.” Having Ancient of Lore and his “Draw 2 cards” can help you find those cards you need, or “Restore 5 health” on one of your injured Ironbark Protectors while you get a 5/5 minion on your side.

Your hero power can also become a pseudo heal by adding 1 shield to your hero each turn. So don’t think that since you have no way to attack, you cannot hero power. That shield may be the difference between life and lethal. And they stack!

In the end, this deck strives on getting your minions out early and trading while keeping them alive. Don’t be afraid to trade, but watch for lethal. And remember, Swipe can also be used on the enemy hero as a 4 damage burst to win the game.

On the more competitive side of the game we saw Massan win the Pinnacle 3 this past week with this deck

Reviews and Emails

iTunes Reviews: None

Emails:
Craig Garvis – Rogue Variety

I thought it would be cool to bring up the rogue Mill deck that used cold light oracle to fill your opponent’s hand, sap and vanish to clear minions and basically set the rogue up for those insane one turn combos.

I know oil is the ladder favorite, but I used to get devastated by this deck on a regular basis and aside from the flavor that uses Leeroy to finish, it’s relatively cheap to craft.

Note: Playing Rogue without the key cards is next to impossible, it’s the lowest ranked hero I have after playing daily for many months. I can understand why Ary has trouble with it, but one day she might find her appreciation for it when she pulls off a one turn 22 damage combo 🙂

It is a very satisfying feeling for learning such a tough class 🙂

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Chad – Secret Mage

Hi guys,

I’ve been listening to the podcast for a couple of months and I just wanted to let you know how much I’ve enjoyed it.

I’ve been playing a secrets mage over the last week or so and it has got me up to rank 7, my highest yet. I started off playing Oil Rogue, but as more people played it, more people learnt to beat it so I couldn’t push up past rank 10! This deck got me going those extra couple of ranks to beat my previous best of 8 that I got before Naxx. I might even hit 6 before season ends.

My substitutions were a 2nd Kirin Tor for the Echo and a 2nd Azure Drake for the Big Game Hunter as I Dont have these cards.

You can probably replace any of legendaries with any other big threat and still be pretty successful.

Anyways, if you guys want to add me that would be cool! I’m in Australia though so I’m not sure how often I’d be on at the same time as you guys but anyway!

Cheers,

Chad.

(PS.. someone buy Ariannwyn some more cards)

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Grommok – This week’s Podcast

First off thank you guys for all the hard work you put in say in and day out. What I would love you see on your YouTube videos is a serious match between you and your guest. It would be great for instance to take a deck you reviewed and go up against a viewer or Rezz, Vast, Ari, etc. to see the concepts in action. Thanks- Grommok.

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Dragonriderdk – Inspiration

I just started listening to podcasts at the beginning of Feb and I love your show! I love the dynamic between father and daughter and how much fun you guys always have. I drive a semi-truck part-time and am so thankful I have your awesome show to listen to while driving. You have inspired my husband and I to start planning to do a podcast together, and I was just wondering if you had an friendly advice or suggestions. Thank you so much for all you do and keep up the awesome work! Also congrats to Ariannwyn on her first opened legendary and crafting Dr. Boom!!

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Mike from Boston – Hunter-Mech-Zoo Deck

I have been playing Hearthstone for about a month and a half, so I am fairly new. Your podcast was one of the first ones I found on itunes and I went back and listened to just about every episode as I dove into this game headfirst. I work a job where I can listen to podcasts, and your podcast is one of the highlights of my week, makes the day go by much quicker.

A quick background of my experience with the game so far before I get into the reasoning for this email.

I have been playing mostly arena, to learn the cards and the game mechanics. I did eventually delve into constructed however, and did some research on decks that were cheap to construct. The first one I found was Mech Mage. I used my saved up dust and the cards I had to construct my own Mech Mage, which eventually ended up being basically the same one everyone was using minus Uncle Tony. I had some success on the ladder, got to rank 15 by the end of January. I was getting frustrated at my deck however as I kept playing it. Mech Mage is an aggressive deck, but every time I lost it was because the deck just wasn’t quite fast enough, and I would know by turn 4 or 5 that I was doomed. That is when I had an idea…

Why not take the most aggressive class, Hunter, and use the principles of Mech Mage. The Hunter hero power might give me that push I need, that bit of speed to push me over the edge. I started constructing this from scratch, and wound up with something more along the lines of a Hunter Mech Zoo deck as I had put in so many low cost mechs. And man, did this deck surpise me.

I have not really even played that much since creating this deck, but it has me at Rank 11 and 2 stars currently, and I plan on getting higher. I climbed fast. People do not see this deck coming.

There are only 3 spells in this deck, mainly just to keep a little control when needed. There are 2 weapons for the same reason, which also give +1 attack to a random minion, speeding me up even more. The rest are minions. The ideal scenario is to coin out the Mechwarper or turn 2 him, then lay out the minions from there. The real MVP card, the thing people do not see coming, is the Metaltooth Leaper. Having a board full of mechs, and then permanently giving them +2 attack each, is so powerful. PLUS, the spare parts, specifically the time warper, allow you to play the leaper, bring him back, and play him again, and for only 5 mana if you have meechwarper out…

I am just so excited about this deck and having created it on my own, I thought I would share it with you guys. It is cheap to craft, only has 1 legendary (so maybe even Ari can play it), and it is FUN for Espo.

Thank you for the content you guys provide, keep doing what you are doing!

Mike from Boston

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Dan MTG – Really Great Show! Really!

Hi Team –
First off, feel free NOT to read on the air if you don’t want to.

On the last podcast (Rogue) you read my iTunes review and seemed kind of taken aback.
I didn’t mean any offense by saying the podcast was geared to newer players and listeners should manage expectations… and I hope you did not take it as an insult.

I am a newer player as I’ve only played for 2 months or so, and so I appreciate that you guys do things like repeat card text so we can follow along better.

One of the key reasons I listen to gaming podcasts is to learn from others who are more experienced – that is my favorite part of your show so far. Espo is a great addition and I’ve come to really appreciate how he breaks down the classes and strategies. I like that Vastidious seems like the “advanced amateur” and that Arianwynn is clearly aiming to have fun and hopefully win some games along the way.

All in all, I love the show and will keep listening. If I have any constructive feedback it would be that you guys actually play the classes BEFORE the shows to come in more prepared and educate us newbies better. Sorry but I had to sneak that in…

Keep up the great shows!
– Dan (aka @dan_mtg)

Ps. I hit level 13 with Face Hunter, even if I felt kind of dirty for smashing people. Thanks Espo for the tip!

Twitter: 173

Outro

That does it for this episode. You can email the show at info@legendoftheinnkeeper.com. You can also visit our website at legendoftheinnkeeper.com where we will post the show notes with the episode that has links to all the information we discussed.

Our YouTube channel is www.legendoftheinnkeeper.com/YouTube
You can follow the show on Twitter @LOTIpodcast
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Be sure to subscribe and rate us on iTunes!

Until next show, Happy gaming!

Credits:

Music by James Marantette – https://soundcloud.com/james-marantette

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